The Village: Clear Data
by SpatulaCastle
Summary: A series of omakes based on the story The Village. 4: Ichigo is not sure why they're being stalked by a glowing tube fuse, and Rukia doesn't seem to care.
1. Camera and Strawberry

Obligatory Author's Note: I will take this time to use the all encompassing 'Happy Holidays' on you all and a more direct 'Merry Christmas' since this here is my Christamas gift to you. I _wanted_ it to be the next chapter of 'The Village' and 'Arashi' but then this happened. Also, I didn't finish either chapter in time. You don't need to have read 'The Village' to enjoy this story, but some Fatal Frame 2 gameplay knowledge would be helpful.

Disclaimer: Did you know that these things won't do you an ounce of good? I can still be easily sued, disclaimer or not, by Tite Kubo (Bleach) or Tecmo (Fatal Frame) so instead I will use this time to ask them out of the kindness their hearts to not sue me.

**The Village: Clear Data**

**Omake One**

**Camera and Strawberry**

"Uh, what is this rock for again?"

"_Spirit stone_, Ichigo," Rukia corrected. "It's for upgrading the camera."

"Yeah, okay. Right." Ichigo turned the smooth white pebble over in his fingers, looking between the stone and the antique camera settled in his other hand. "So...where the hell do I put it?" He questioned, experimentally poking at any vaguely rock shaped indenture in the camera that the stone would fit into.

"Don't break it!" Rukia snatched the stone out of Ichigo's grasp. "You don't stick it on the camera, fool, you put it in the menu screen."

Ichigo stared at her blankly. "The what?"

"The menu! It says so in the guide." Rukia held up a small booklet with 'Fatal Frame II Crimson Butterfly' printed on the front.

"Where the hell did you get that?!"

She ignored the question. "Just open the menu, see?" A screen suddenly appeared in front of the two Shinigami and Rukia navigated to the camera section, oblivious to the bewildered look on her companion's face. "Right here-"

"Wait, what is this additional and equipped function crap?"

"Don't worry about it, you'll find that stuff later."

"FIND?"

"_Focus_. Look, just pick what you want to upgrade and-"

"Wait, _pick_?"

"Yes _pick_! You can upgrade the range, accumulation, or sensitivity-"

"PICK?!"

"-or a power up lens. What is your problem?"

"What is all this crap about 'picking'? Why can't I just make it stronger?"

"It _is_ getting stronger. In the area that you _pick_."

"Why can't it just get stronger, period? Why is there _picking_ involved at all?!"

"That's the way it was designed, idiot!"

"Clearly it has design flaws!"

Rukia huffed, stuffing the spirit stone back into Ichigo's hand. "Stop complaining and just upgrade it already!"

Ichigo scowled at the petite Shinigami before turning to the menu screen hovering in mid-air. "Fine...what do these even do, anyway?"

Rukia turned back to her guide book for answers. "It says here that range increases the size of the capture circle-"

"Pfft, like it's friggin' hard to _miss_ with a _camera_."

"Accumulation increases the potential number of stocked spirit power for using lenses-"

"Lenses?"

"And sensitivity increases damage."

Ichigo wordlessly popped the spirit stone into the sensitivity slot. "_Pick_. My ass, like I'd pick anything _else_." He grumbled. "So that's it? We're done with this crap?"

"No, now you need to assign points."

"Points? What are those supposed to be for?"

Rukia rolled her eyes. "For actually upgrading the camera! You get them for exercising spirits!" She pointed at the screen, gaping at the number in the corner. "You only have 500 points!? What have you been doing, that's not nearly enough!"

"What kind of bullshit...I've only fought ONE ghost-demon-thing! What do you want from me, woman!?"

"Why haven't you been taking pictures of vanishing ghosts then? They give you points!"

"Because it's a fucking waste of film and I ran out after I killed the first one!"

"You can't run out of film!"

"Why the hell do you think I haven't been using it? _It ran out of film_."

"Type 07 film is unlimited you ass!"

"...What?"

"Look, it's set to Type 14! You could've switched to Type 07 after you ran out!"

Ichigo went completely deadpan at Rukia's statement. "You mean to tell me I've been running around _completely helpless_ for no damn reason at all?"

Rukia considered this for several seconds. "...Yes." And then, "Ichigo, that camera is going to break if you keep bludgeoning yourself in the head with it."

A/N: Ha, that was fun. For now, this is going to stand as 'complete' though I will write more omake oneshots if more ideas possess me. Suggestions are also welcome, of course, but don't let me get _too_ sidetracked from the main story.


	2. Restarter

Obligatory Author's Note: Still writing, still alive, I'm doing science and I'm still alive, I feel fantastic and I'm still alive, while you're dying I'll be still alive-

**The Village: Clear Data**

**Omake Two**

**Restarter**

"I don't understand how this is supposed to be fun." Ichigo tripped over a familiar black bag during his familiar stroll down a familiar hill shortly after expressing his irritation, cursing and flailing on the ground for a bit before climbing to his feet and spitting out a wad of dirt. "More like it's friggin' _ridiculous_."

"It isn't necessarily about fun, Ichigo," Rukia responded, nose buried in the 'Official Fatal Frame II Strategy Guide'. "It's about principles...or something. We only beat the game on easy mode, now we have to complete normal mode in order to unlock harder modes and receive the 'good ending', as I'm told."

Ichigo gaped, an amusing sight made more amusing by the dirt smudged across his nose. "That was _easy_? Hell no we are _not_ doing this shit all over again, only _harder_. I don't give a crap about your prin-wait, what?" The second half of what she said suddenly registered. "_Good_ ending? Are you telling me the main story is going to have a _bad_ ending?"

"Ichigo!" Rukia gave the teen Shinigami a sharp look, snapping her book shut firmly. "We do not talk about the main story here-"

"Because I will damn well quit here and now if that's what you're telling me-" Ichigo felt a hand on his shoulder and brushed it off without a second thought, already knowing nothing would be there when he turned around.

"Shut up, idiot!"

"If anything happens to my sisters-"

"Would you stop-" A spirit suddenly appeared behind Rukia and stabbed her in the back with it's sickle and she fell to her knees, gasping in pain. Ichigo looked less than worried.

"Oh c'mon! You knew that was going to happen, why didn't you get out of the way or something!? Idiot..." he grumbled, casually kicking the malevolent spirit aside.

"Because it was a scripted event! I had no control over it!"

"So, knowing you were going to be stabbed again, you decided to restart the game _anyway_?" She nodded stiffly in response. "Rukia," Ichigo huffed, pausing while she decimated the attacking spirit with a burst of kidou. "You friggin' _suck_."

"Fine, you quit. I'll go on by myself and you can be stuck with the bad ending."

Ichigo and Rukia stared each other down, each employing their most devastating glares and neither blinking for several seconds. At long last, Ichigo's eyebrow twitched and he looked away. "What _is _the bad ending, anyway?"

Rukia frowned and cast her eyes to the ground. "I'm afraid you won't like it, Ichigo," she responded softly, and he immediately tensed.

"It...it isn't Yuzu and Karin, is it?" His voice pitched upward in worry. "Nothing is gonna happen to them...or you...is it? Does one of you die, do you make some STUPID sacrifice?!"

"I'm afraid I don't really know how to put this delicately, so I'll put it bluntly." Rukia looked up at Ichigo, her gaze unwavering and her eyes narrowed. "Are you very sure you want to know?"

"Yes, already! Damn it, what happens?!"

After a long stretch of silence, Rukia sighed heavily. "Yuzu marries Jinta."

"...Oh HELL no, give me that damn strategy guide!"

A/N: Come up with titles and the dang things write themselves. Kudos to the first person who guesses how I'm coming up with the chapter titles. (Hint: I changed the first omake's title)


	3. Headsplittin'

Obligatory Author's Note: BOOM! (Still working on the main story, am just bogged down by having somewhere in the vicinity of 5 million different hobbies that routinely demand my attention. It gets very annoying, but I can't seem to get rid of any of them. Speaking of the main story, the next chapter will be up VERY soon. Like, tomorrow soon.)

**The Village: Clear Data**

**Omake Three**

**Headsplittin'**

"Mission mode?"

"Yes."

"Mission mode."

"Yes!"

"..._Mission_ mode."

"Yes already!" Rukia forcefully crossed her arms over her chest, possibly to prevent herself from physically lashing out at her companion for his dimwittedness. "Are you expecting me to change my answer?"

"...Is there any chance of that happening?" Ichigo didn't dare to actually hope, but there wasn't any harm in asking anyway.

"No! Why do you insist on being so uncooperative?"

"Because you insist on doing unneccesary things!"

"It _isn't_ unneccesary," Rukia insisted. "It's about-"

"I could not even begin to _try_ to care less about your 'principles', Rukia." Ichigo interrupted.

Rukia sniffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "For your information, this has very little to do with principles. For one, we'll earn more points for the camera that you've woefully neglected to upgrade."

"_Like I said before,_" Ichigo grumbled, waving the camera around to emphasize his point, "I've hardly used the thing, it ran out of film, and _I didn't know about the unlimited type 07 film – _which is almost completely worthless against most ghosts, by the way."

"Secondly," Rukia talked over him. "We'll win new costumes!"

Ichigo could not help but facepalm. "Why... You... That's... I'm not even sure where to begin with how much sense this does not make."

"It makes perfect sense," Rukia rebuked. "We accomplish missions, and we are rewarded for it."

"Why are we being rewarded with _clothes_ for killing ghosts?"

"We aren't. We are being rewarded for killing ghosts quickly, or efficiently, or obtaining as many points as possible _while_ killing ghosts. We also get costumes for completing harder modes, which is another valid reason for beating the game again."

"Or, we can go to the store and _buy_ clothes. With _money_. Instead of hours and hours of frustration."

"Don't be ridiculous, Ichigo, where else are we going to find a bloody kimono?"

"...Why... No, I'm pretty sure I don't wanna know WHY you want a bloody kimono."

Rukia grinned. The fact that it looked slightly malicious may or may not have been Ichigo's imagination. "No. You don't."

Ichigo sighed heavily in a long-suffering manner. "Are you at least going to explain where the hell we are?" Before they'd started their current argument, Rukia had approached a glowing red lantern, touched it, and suddenly they were... Well, Ichigo wasn't clear on the 'where', just that there was a bunch of text floating around and somehow Rukia was bending it to her will. Shortly after that, the subject of mission mode had come up before he had a chance to snap out of his befuddlement and ask about their abrupt change in location.

"The clear data screen," Rukia responded in a matter of fact tone that suggested he should have known this already.

"..._What._"

"The clear. Data. Screen." She ennuciated each word slowly, and Ichigo scowled at the petite Shinigami.

"I'm not freaking deaf," he grumbled. He decided not to elaborate on his confusion, however, pretty certain the answer wasn't going to make any sense anyway. He still couldn't help but wonder what exactly had happened to reality, though.

And Rukia was ignoring him now anyway, too preoccupied with perusing the 'clear data screen'. "I suppose we might as well start with the first one," she muttered mostly to herself, selecting one of the mission.

"No. There is no 'we'. This is your thing, so you do it." Ichigo protested, stepping backwards in the hope that the action might pop him back into reality – or at least prevent him from getting yanked into 'mission mode'.

Rukia frowned, "You're the one with the camera," she pointed at him.

Ichigo glanced down at the device in his hands and then shoved it at Rukia. "There. The power of sharing. Have fun."

"Fine," Rukia snatched it away from him and turned back towards the screen before vanishing. It wasn't until then that Ichigo realized he hadn't bothered to ask how he was supposed to get out of the 'clear data screen' and he began cursing.

A/N: Kudos to rukianeesama for correctly guessing my (not so) ingenious naming mechanism!


	4. WHY IS IT BLUE?

Obligatory Author's Note: For anyone who didn't see (and in case no notification went out _again – _I really should stop with this half-chapter upload business) I updated chapter eleven of the main story. Huzzah for progress!

**The Village: Clear Data**

**Omake Four**

**WHY IS IT BLUE?**

"Rukia."

"Yes?"

"What is that thing and why is it following us?" Ichigo hadn't been planning on saying anything about the cylindrical doodad that bore a passing resemblance to a tube fuse floating alongside them since Rukia seemed nonplussed about it, but then it started glowing and there was really only so much nonsense he could take. "And why is it blue?"

Rukia stopped in her tracks. "It's blue?" She barely spared him a glance before giving their immediate surroundings a once over.

"Yeah, it's blue. Never-freaking-mind that it's _hovering_ in mid-air and stalking us. It's _blue._" As if to spite him, the floating fuse stopped glowing. "Seriously, what the hell is that thing?"

"Didn't you read this at all?" Rukia flourished the guidebook in annoyance. "And now we missed catching one of the vanishing ghosts! We're never going to finish the ghost list at this rate!"

"I don't even... we're doing _what _now?"

"The ghost list! We have to take a picture of every ghost in the village."

"...I can't begin to tell you how much I don't care. WHAT IS THAT THING?" Ichigo pointed at the object of his initial inquiry and current irritation.

Rukia crossed her arms and sighed as though he should already well understand why they were being shadowed by a floating cylinder. "It's the camera filament. It indicates the prescence of spirits. It glows blue when a benevolent spirit is nearby, and red when the spirit is malevolent."

"Okay. And the camera filament, instead of being _attached_ to the camera, is _floating around by itself _because...?" A nonchalant shrug was all Rukia offered in response. "What exactly goes on in Soul Society that makes you immune to this weirdness?" Another shrug. "And what's with this stupid 'ghost list' all of a sudden?"

Rukia flipped open the guidebook and Ichigo was already sorry he'd asked. "According to this, if we capture every ghost on the list, we can unlock set-up information."

When it was clear she would explain no further he dared to ask, "What does that even mean?"

"Ah, well... I'm... not really sure." Rukia flipped through a few pages of the book, her brow creasing in concentration. "I haven't been able to find any specific details about it..."

Ichigo was not amused, and his silence and blank expression spoke volumes to Rukia about how much amusement he was not having. Her own expression indicated that she didn't really care.

"...Which is exactly why we're going to finish the ghost list and find out!" She declared in a tone that would tolerate no argument.

So Ichigo didn't argue. Instead, he turned around and left. "I friggin' hate this place," he grumbled.

A/N: Fun fact – this was actually the first omake I started writing before The Village: Clear Data was more than an idea in my head. I just never got around to finishing it until now.


End file.
